Mhairi Black: Tory reaction to women’s vigils shows no limit to brass necks

When you are a girl growing up, you’re taught certain things: “Don’t walk home alone”, “don’t have earphones in on a quiet street”, “cross the road, but subtly, if a group of people are coming towards you and you’re by yourself”, and on and on. The reason that Sarah Everard’s murder has sparked the conversation it has is because she followed all those “rules”. We have a culture where, when a crime is committed against a woman, we try to find the ways in which she deserved it. Did she dare walk the streets after drinking? Did she dare wear revealing clothes? Did she dare make a journey without getting someone to confirm her safe arrival? Did she break any of the rules listed above? “I mean, it’s terrible what happened, but what was she thinking...” etc.

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Only this week in America, a racist man killed eight women, six of them Asian. The police who are investigating the issue stated that he wasn’t racist, simply a sex addict. That’s nine women dead at the hands of men in the past two weeks that have been widely reported. But there have been many more, and there will be many more. Every year Labour MP Jess Philips stands in the House of Commons and reads out the names of women killed by men, and every year we promise to do better. So, what is the Government’s response to this endless scandal?

A Policing Bill that seeks to scupper people’s right to protest.

Following the news of Sarah Everard’s body being found, women across the UK organised vigils to pay respect to her. Her death affected so many of us and they wanted to pay respects to her while protesting the violence that women live in fear of every day. These vigils and protests were peaceful, the attendants wore masks and were socially distanced. The police, rather than protect the attendees, attacked them. All over social media we saw videos of women, outnumbered two, three, four or five to one, pinned down and handcuffed. It was such a hugely disproportionate response that it reminded me of the ridiculous police response to the Black Lives Matter protests in America last year.

Interestingly enough, when those protests reached the UK last year, the UK Government didn’t bother to discuss the issue of racism. Instead, they announced plans to bring in prisons sentences and massive fines for people who damage statues of slave owners.

Now, when women protest the violence that we incur simply for existing, the UK Government ham-fistedly try and push through a Policing Bill that will send people to prison for up to 10 years if their protest annoys people.

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The hypocrisy of the party that decries “wokeness” and “snowflakes” putting people in jail for simply upsetting them cannot be overstated. Then there’s the additional layer of hypocrisy from the Scottish Tories, who’ve spent months decrying the Scottish Government’s thoroughly scrutinised and debated Hate Crime Bill because of free speech concerns, voting in favour of this Policing Bill – which is a ridiculous attack on civil liberties – without a second look. There’s no limit to their brass neck.

Something the UK Government could have done, instead of trying to rush this bill through Parliament, is ratify the Istanbul Convention on Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. It wouldn’t take them long, given that my former colleague Eilidh Whiteford wrote the bill for them in 2017. This is a column about women and violence against us, and its message is simple: stop it. If we have to teach our daughters to try and avoid violence then we must also start teaching our sons not to commit it. Women do the heavy lifting in society – we carry the most caring responsibility for people all ages. It’s time men start caring for us as much as we care for everyone else.